The affairs of the world are no more than so much trickery, and a man who toils for money or honor or whatever else in deference to the wishes of others, rather than because his own desire or needs lead him to do so, will always be a fool.

O citizens, first acquire wealth; you can practice virtue afterward.

Every country has the government it deserves.

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.

I say violence is necessary. It is as American as cherry pie.

Envy is the basis of democracy.

There is nothing more tyrannical than a strong popular feeling among a democratic people.

The Revolution is made by man, but man must forge his revolutionary spirit from day to day.

What experience and history teach is this—that nations and governments have never learned anything from history or acted upon any lessons they might have drawn from it.

A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.

The vice presidency isn’t worth a pitcher of warm piss.

Television has made dictatorship impossible, but democracy unbearable.

Natural rights is simple nonsense: natural and imprescriptible rights, rhetorical nonsense—nonsense upon stilts.